Colin Firth takes Italian citizenship after Brexit decision

Film star Colin Firth has taken Italian citizenship in the wake of the Brexit vote, it has been revealed.

Firth is married to Italian Livia Giuggioli, speaks the language fluently, and spends a lot of his time in the country, where the family has a holiday home in Umbria.

In a statement, the 57-year-old said: 'With some of the uncertainty around, we thought it sensible that we should all get the same'.

In an interview with an Austrian newspaper last autumn, he said of Brexit: 'For me this is a disaster of unexpected proportions. Colin, 57, has publicly criticised the Brexit vote in the past, but insists he will still call the United Kingdom his home no matter what.

"Colin applied for dual citizenship [British and Italian] in order to have the same passports as his wife and children", the agent said.

Firth is also father to a son with his former flame Meg Tilly, who he dated for five years until their breakup in 1994.

The actor - now appearing as gentleman spy in Kingsman: The Golden Circle - will continue to base his career in the United Kingdom and remain as British as warm beer and rainy weekends.

"I was married there and had two children born in Rome", said Firth of the Italian capital, the BBC reported.

"I don't feel planted here", Firth toldHollywood Reporter magazine in 2010, adding that he does not believe the English gentleman stereotype "exists except in the roles I play". Despite the enticements of my profession to relocate to more remunerative climes, I've always chosen to base my career out of the United Kingdom and pay my taxes here.

Firth's announcement came just hours after Theresa May's speech in Florence, in which the Prime Minister conceded that Britain would have to accept European Union free movement and stay in the single market for at least two years after Brexit.

'Like nearly everybody I have a passionate love of Italy and joining my wife and kids in being dual citizens will be a huge privilege'.